5 Tips for success at weight maintenace
I always say, “who cares how much weight you lose if you just gain it back?” Many people relapse and gain weight back after a successful diet. Today you will learn some better strategies to prevent that.
I was recently asked the following question on a Reddit nutrition forum.
“I do okay calorie counting for weight loss. Then I can be intuitive to maintain alright. But at some point, something kicks off a bad trend. Like I was good for 8 months maintenance and then my grandma died and I had pizza while visiting for the funeral. Boom, gained 10 pounds and sat at it for the next year or two. This has happened several times so each relapse sends me higher. But it's not yo yo dieting, I'm not relapsing the end of the diet, it is sometime later.
Any ideas on how to prevent these bumps while still getting the low stress of intuitive eating?”
Does this resonate with you? Here are 5 ways to manage this for next time:
My first suggestion would be to give yourself some grace. It takes a long time for musicians to learn to play perfectly by ear. It takes most people a long time to feel 100% comfortable eating without structure in a maintenance mode.
Here are some other ideas that you may want to incorporate. Remember that you'll have to play around and find the happy medium for you:
Check your weight once a week or every other week. Record it. If you really start seeing your weight trend up over 6-8 weeks, you can up the structure a bit and start weighing weekly, meal planning, calorie counting, or whatever you know will bring you success.
Have "forbidden" foods regularly until they don't feel so special anymore. Love pizza? Have it every week in a recipe or version that fits your goals. Flatout has some great ideas on their site https://recipes.flatoutbread.com/recipes/pepperoni-flatbread-pizza/
Get into an active hobby and an exercise routine. Lifting weights is an investment in your ability to maintain a healthy body composition and burn extra calories. A hobby like gardening, hiking, etc. can add a lot of extra steps to your day. Sometimes the best exercise plan is one that doesn't feel like exercise. For me- I HATE running or walking on the treadmill (aka dread-mill), but I love walking around and exploring the city or out in nature. Housework also counts as exercise. Vacuum and clean more often. Mow your own lawn. Etc.
Design your environment for success. The book, "mindless eating" by Wansink is a great read about this concept. Keep healthy food in the house. Put alcohol and sweets on a high shelf or in the garage. Pre-chop your veggies and put them in containers at eye level (the bottom drawer vegetable crisper in the fridge is where veggies go to die). Keep spare meals and snacks in your car, purse, desk at work, etc. One of the things that personally helped me overcome heavy drinking during Covid lockdown was moving all my booze into a box in the garage instead of my kitchen. My rule was that I had to make and have my drinks in the garage. It wasn't as easy or fun, but I also wasn't completely depriving myself. I eventually cut way back.
Realize that you can't just go back to your "old way" of eating 100%. People think their metabolism slows down a lot after their 20s but that's not the biggest culprit for weight gain. Most people in their teens and 20s have active hobbies, active friends, not much money, and more physically demanding jobs. People tend to gain weight when they get promoted. Now you're sitting at a desk, corporate lunches, have money to eat out more often, your friends are older and all have back injuries so instead of inviting you to go hike, they invite you out for dinner and drinks, now your married and your spouse wants to eat out more often, etc. In addition to actively trying to make healthy choices, try to really analyze what your current life is throwing at you and find small solutions to help mitigate.
Those are just 5 starting points. Maybe some vibe with you, maybe not. I typically talk in-depth with people when they enter a maintenance phase to really tease out what methods will set this person up for success. I can only recommend that you give yourself the same level of attention and introspection.
Don't try to be "perfect" of what you think you SHOULD do. Instead put together something that you think you WILL do. Don't let "good enough" be the enemy of "great."
If you are struggling to lose weight or have fears about being able to maintain your weight loss, I’m here to help. Contact me for a free consultation about personal nutrition and fitness coaching. Programs start as low as $200 per month and only last as long as you need them. My goal isn’t to make you a client forever. My goal is to help you solve your problems and reach YOUR goals as quickly as possible and sustain them.
